


Miserable America

by HavocRoyale



Category: Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: Autistic Cady Heron, Closeted Character, F/F, Heathers AU, Homophobia, Multi, This AU is a Mess, Trans Cady Heron, Underage Drinking, will add more tags as stuff comes up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 10:10:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17423900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HavocRoyale/pseuds/HavocRoyale
Summary: Cady Heron just wanted to live a normal high schooler's life for once. Only life had different plans for her, and a crush on the resident "art freak slash bad girl" spirals into the murder of one of her best friends (if you can call them that) and the destruction of everything she thought she knew about high school life.





	Miserable America

 So far? Cady _hated_ Northshore High.

 It had only been a few hours on campus but it was miserable. She’d been shoved, tripped, pushed, glared at, and called a multitude of names she hadn’t even heard of before and had to search up on her phone between periods.

 The only person to even speak to her outside of calling her names was a tall girl who was in three of her classes so far. Cady made it a point to try and sit near her in all of them, desperate to have a friend and at the moment, this girl was the closest she’d be getting. She had long, messy, dark hair that had been bleached at the ends and wore dark makeup. All her clothes were splattered in paint or ripped or both, her jacket had several paintings on it that Cady spent studying in her homeroom, the only class where she sat behind her. She looked... _punk_ or what Cady imagined punk looked like after mellowing out some. And she was kind...ish. The first thing she said to Cady was a compliment on her glasses, which actually _weren’t_ cute, they were clunky, but she wasn’t going to correct the first nice person she met. And she was polite to Cady’s face and gave her tips and offered her help in all the classes they’d shared so far, that was kind enough in Cady’s book. For now at least.

 Cady was no stranger to the warm feeling in her chest or the butterflies in her stomach. She was absolutely smitten with this girl and she didn’t even know her name yet. But she was pretty and she looked rebellious, dangerous, like she feared no one and wouldn’t change for anyone but herself. She was interesting and a the perfect gateway drug into everything Cady has been sheltered from her entire life until this day.

 If only Cady could find her in the cafeteria.

 Instead, she found herself in the nearest bathroom, having been quickly overwhelmed by all the chatter and noise in the lunchroom and also failing to find her mystery girl. She was crammed into a stall, lunch tray in her lap, and Cady has never felt lonelier. She always thought she didn’t have friends because she was homeschooled so she just didn’t see the other kids enough. Except here she was in a public school, still without friends.

  _Maybe it was her fault._

 She couldn’t linger in her self doubt for long because suddenly someone was knocking on the stall door.

 “Come out, sweetie,” It sounded like a teacher, maybe, “You’re either doing drugs or constipated from doing drugs.”

 It was definitely a teacher and Cady swears she’s never gotten up and opened a door so fast in her life. Her lunch clattering to the ground and she swung the door open, “No! I’m not-“

 Someone caught the door behind her and in front of her stood a large guy that she _definitely_ remembered from her french class.

 “Welcome to Northshore High! Je m'appelle Sasha Fierce.”

 “That’s Damian, he’s almost too gay to function,” Cady turned around to find that the person who stopped the door was her mystery girl, “Hey. I’m Janis.”

 She smiled and Cady felt the warm feeling explode out, smiling nervously back at the girl. Janis pulled a paper out of her bag, unfolding it to read as her friend, Damian, droned on about _something_ , not that Cady was listening. Janis was holding her schedule, could she be checking for classes they have together? Unlikely but Cady still hoped so.

 “We will be your starter companions in this hellish landscape we call high school,” This Damian guy definitely had a flair for the dramatic.

 Janis was quick to translate, “What he means is that we’ll be your friends until you find some better.”

 Cady’s mind is already made up. She’s not going to find anyone better.

 “Great! Thank you so much!”

 Janis threw her arm around Cady’s shoulders, guiding her close behind Damian as they wandered through the cafeteria and he started listing off the different kinds of cliques and tables. There were jocks that would shove her in a locker, stoners (who smoked oregano?), mathletes, kids with various eating troubles, sexually active band geeks, a few others that didn’t quite stick in her memory. The last table she was introduced to was Janis’ and Damian’s table, they seemed to actually really want her to sit with them, she nodded ecstatically and both Janis and Damian sweeped her up into a hug.

 They sat down at the table, Cady taking a seat next to Janis while Damian sat across from them. At some point he managed to get a lunch while introducing her to the different cliques, Janis just pulled out a tupperware with a sandwich and a bag of chips in it. Cady began to really miss her lunch, she’d barely gotten a bite in before it was abandoned on the bathroom floor.

 “Why the long face, Caddy?”

 “It’s Cady and-” Janis cut her off, “Yeah, I know, still calling you Caddy though.”

 Cady ignored her, “I dropped my lunch in the bathroom when you guys came in.”

 “Oh! Here,” Janis picked up the other half of her sandwich and handed it to Cady, “Better than school food anyways. Dam’s gotten food poisoning at least twice from it.”

 She chuckled and Damian looked taken aback, “Janis! Don’t tell her that! God, we only just met her! You’re gonna scare her into never eating lunch again!”

 “Nah, Caddy’s smarter than that. Right Caddy?” Janis nudged her and shot her a smile, Cady hoped she wasn’t floundering too much, “Uh, right. Thank you for the sandwich…”

 “Don’t mention it.”

 The next few minutes passed relatively quickly, Janis and Damian talking and listing off classes they had with Cady and who the “good” teachers were versus the “bad” teachers. Cady just nodded along, attempting to save all the information in her head. She was distracted easily however, especially when she noticed students clearing way for three other students. They were three girls, she must’ve been staring because Damian spoke up.

 “We call those three the Plastics because they’re shiny, fake, and hard,” Both her and Janis snickered, “The one in the middle is Regina George. She’s the queen bee, always wins the crown at Spring Fling, homecoming, prom, you name it.”

 “The one who looks like she might combust if Regina so much as looks at her is Gretchen Wieners. She’s Regina’s right hand, like some kind of jewish princess jesus,” There was a tone in Janis’ voice that Cady couldn’t quite place, somewhere in between disinterest and anger, “Absolutely _never_ tell her any secrets, all she’ll do is run and tell Regina them so she can ruin your life. The last one is Karen Smith, literally the dumbest person you will ever meet.”

 “She’s nice but Janis has a point. I once saw her put a “d” in the word _orange_ ,” Damian nodded matter-of-factly.

 Cady had to admit, the “Plastics” definitely looked like every mean girl clique she’s ever heard of in any book or movie. It left her with a feeling of unease when they kept glancing over to her and whispering, it felt like they were plotting something and Cady didn’t even know them yet. What could they possibly have against her already?

 “So, anyways,” Cady’s attention was pulled back to the table when Janis spoke up, “Me and Damian are having a movie night Friday. We’re gonna watch the Princess Bride.”

 “Oh my god, yes! You should totally come, Caddy! Give me your phone, so I can give you my number!” He was already pulling his own phone out, quickly snatching Cady’s out of her hand the second it was above the table, “No, passcode? Oh sweetie, you’re gonna need one, make one first thing when I give you your phone back.”

 Cady didn’t really think it was a big deal that she didn’t have a passcode. Who was gonna possibly try and get into _her_ phone?

 “Damian’s pretty much got the whole movie memorized, so if you miss any of it Friday we can just ask him for a step by step reenactment,” Janis continued.

 The bell rang and students began gathering their things and leaving. Damian was quick to set off on his own, headed towards the music hall for choir. Janis stayed back with Cady, placing a hand on her shoulder as they walked out of the cafeteria, “You’ve got AP Calc with Norbury next. Same room as our homeroom, you remember where that is?”

 “Uh..no,” Cady lied and part of her hated how easy it was for her.

 Janis just smiled again, the butterflies and warm feeling was back, “I’ll walk you. My next class is US History, so don’t worry about me missing out on anything.”

 She didn’t really understand the joke, history was important and interesting, but she laughed with Janis anyways. Following beside her as the traversed the hallways in silence. Janis’ hand didn’t leave her shoulder until they were at the door to her class.

 “Alright, this is it. Room 314, now I’ve gotta jet,” She waved a two finger salute, “I’ll see ya’ around, Caddy.”

 Calculus was fun. Norbury was a nice teacher and math was her favorite subject, it was a breeze. Not to mention a cute guy sitting in front of her, he’d turned their worksheets into a bit of a friendly competition. Determined not to be outsmarted by Cady. He had swoopy dark hair, grey eyes, and based on the soccer letterman he was wearing, he was probably pretty fit. Everything about him screamed her type honestly, he was also smart and funny, but she was so tired of the same old. And she’d already managed to fall hard for Janis and her rock-n-roll vibe anyways, but Aaron, the guy, _was_ still cute and Cady was _not_ going to complain about him talking to her. Especially since Janis and Damian were the only others to do so, she wasn’t going to turn away any new friends.

 The rest of the day passed relatively quick. No one else really talked to her and she only had one more class with Janis (chemistry how ironic) and none with Damian or Aaron. She also noticed she didn’t seem to have a single class with any of the Plastics, well, for the second half of her day at least, she might have had one before lunch. But regardless she was making way to her locker where Damian and Janis said they’d meet her when she was intercepted just at the other end of the hall by none other than Regina George.

 And also Gretchen and Karen, but they weren’t in her face like Regina was. Eyeing her like a lioness eyes a herd of antelope, looking for a weak link to attack. She felt small and honestly a little afraid.

 Suddenly Regina grabbed her wrist, studying the bracelet, “This is cute, where’d you get it?”

 “Uh...uh...K-Kenya,” There’s no way Regina didn’t notice her gaping like a fish before replying, “Hm. You’re new here, I’ve never seen you before and there’s no _way_ I wouldn’t have noticed a pretty girl like you.”

 “Thanks?”

 Regina’s eyes met her own, they were the same shade of blue as Cady’s own, she had a small smile, “So you agree? You think you’re pretty?”

 “Wait. What?” Cady retrieved her arm from Regina’s grasp, fiddling with the bracelet to make sure it wasn’t damaged.

 “Give us a moment,” Regina swiveled around to face Gretchen and Karen, they huddled together and started whispering. Cady could see Janis and Damian at her locker, they looked confused, Janis mouthed something at her and Cady assumed she was asking what the hell she was doing. Cady just shrugged, she had no clue.

 “Right,” Regina faced her again, cutting in the way between Cady’s line of sight with her friends, “So we never really do this, but...you should sit with us at lunch this week.”

  _What?_

 “Oh...that’s okay, I actually-”

 Gretchen cut her off, “No need to thank us! You’ll need our help if you don’t want to end up unpopular.”

 “On Wednesdays we wear pink!” Karen chipped in suddenly.

 “Uh…”

 And just as suddenly as they appeared, they were leaving, heels clicking on the tiles and people moving out of their way like their lives depended on it. Cady finally got to her locker and friends, Janis was quick to question what happened.

 “They want me to sit at their table tomorrow.”

 “You’re kidding.”

 “No, but I’m not gonna, I mean I already have you guys and-”

 “No! Dude, you gotta go sit with them! You can come back to us and tell us all the dirty little secrets they share,” Janis and Damian were both giggling, “C’mon, please, Caddy! They’re jerks, it’s not like we’re asking you to put rat poison in their food or something.”

 Okay, so Janis had a really dark sense of humor apparently.

 Cady sighed, “Okay, fine. Janis, do you have a pink shirt?”

 “Oh hell no,” A scoff followed by Damian taking her hand as they began to walk towards the exit, “I do! What shade?”

* * *

 

 “Greetings and salutations, Caddy,” Janis walked into their homeroom and sat in her desk backwards, leaning against Cady’s desk, a mischievous smile playing across her face, “Ready to infiltrate the unholy ones?”

 The smile made her insides feel all gooey but thinking about _why_ Janis was looking at her like that she kind of hated it. And apparently it showed because Janis took one of Cady’s hands in her own, her thumb rubbing across her knuckles.

 “Hey, if you really don’t want to sit with the Plastics today you don’t have to…” She had a look of sympathy and concern, Cady hoped she wasn’t blushing, “No, it’s fine. I’m just nervous…”

 “It’ll be easier, don’t even stress. You’ll be the perfect spy.”

 Janis turned around in her desk, kicking her feet up onto it and resting her arms behind her head. Norbury was quick to swat her feet of the desk as she handed out some papers, rolling her eyes as Janis made a scene of putting her feet back up.

 And before Cady knew it, it was lunch again. Janis had walked with her to all the classes they shared and to the last class before lunch that they didn’t share. They were actually late to that one, they were in the bathroom with Damian so he could give her a pink shirt. Her teacher gave her a pass as a new student thankfully. The second she stepped foot into the cafeteria, she didn’t even get a look around before Gretchen was at her side, pulling her over to the Plastics’ table. She pushed Cady onto one side of the table next to Karen and resumed her seat beside Regina. Cady quietly wondered if maybe they were more than friends, Gretchen hung on Regina’s every word and followed her around like a lost puppy.

 Regina looked disapprovingly at Cady, “Is that the only pink shirt you have?”

 “I...yeah? It’s my dad’s actually,” Regina made another face before looking back at her phone, Cady felt like maybe she said the wrong thing.

 “Okay, we’re going to the mall after school. Get your some new clothes and some contacts.”

 Contacts were an absolute no-go, they were uncomfortable and Cady was always worried of losing them or forgetting about them.

 “Oh, no that’s fine. I don’t wear contacts…”

 “Well, you’re not going to be wearing those ugly glasses either if you’re going to be sitting with us. It’s contacts or back to the art freaks’ table,” Regina was staring her down, a challenge.

 Cady honestly wouldn’t mind standing up to her, but she told Janis and Damian she’d do this, she can’t give up so quickly, “Right then. Contacts it is, I guess…”

 “Yo, Africa!” Cady’s attention was turned to the lanky guy behind her, she recognized him from her calculus class, she heard Regina scoff from behind her.

 “Name’s Kevin, I’m head of the mathletes team here and we’re lookin’ to recruit you. Those fractions yesterday were tight and Ms.Norbury says our funding will raise if we get a girl on the team so…”

 “Kevin, why are you even here?”

 “Uh, to recruit Cady to the mathletes team? Girl’s got mad schquills,” He winked at Cady.

 Regina didn’t so much as look up from her phone again, “Whatever, she’s not committing social suicide just to join your merry band of thirsty geeks. Go away.”

 “Uh huh, well,” Kevin slipped a small card to Cady, “Here’s my card, I also DJ, text me if you’re interested, Africa. Peace!”

 The rest of lunch was a blur, the Plastics went over the dos and donts in their group (no sweatpants, no vests, ponytails are only acceptable once a week) as well as some light gossip. Once the bell rang, Cady sped away from the table, nearly literally running into Janis. Damian close behind her.

 The tall girl grabbed Cady by her arms, steadying her, “Woah now, speed racer. You’re in a rush.”

 Her face went dark, it almost felt like the whole room went cold, Janis’ glare was _not_ one to take lightly, “What did they do to you? What did they say?”

 “What?”

 “The Plastics. What did they do?”

 “N-Nothing? It was just gossip, some kid named Jason deepens his voice or something and I’m not allowed to wear my vests. I mean, they were actually pretty... _nice_ even. They want to take me to the mall,” Damian let out a groan.

 Janis’ face lightened up some but it was clear something was still bothering her, “The Plastics are _not_ nice, Caddy.”

 “I don’t understand why you hate them so much, I mean yeah they can be jerks sometimes but-”

 “Janis hates them because in mid-” Damian started to speak but Janis was quick to slap her hand over his mouth, “It’s not important. Just trust me when I say they’re the worst of the bunch. Don’t let them get to you, okay? You’re better than them.”

 Cady just nodded, not wanting to risk incurring Janis’ wrath.

 “I’m sorry. Just...you have a soul, don’t let _Regina_ dirty it. We’re all marked for evil,” Damian rolled his eyes and Janis grabbed her hand, “Come on, I’ll walk you to calc again…”

 The rest of the day passed and Cady didn’t even get to see Janis or Damian before Regina had whisked her off to the mall. She tried to hide her disappointment and thankfully, the Plastics were some of the least observant people on planet Earth. The first thing Cady learned upon entering the mall, was that the mall was about ten times worse than the cafeteria. It was louder, busier, more crowded, and easier to get lost in. If Regina wasn’t dragging her around by her wrist, Cady thinks that maybe she _would_ get lost.

 Which was almost preferable to being suffocated by the Plastics on top of the mall-goers. Only almost, though.

 She was already on the verge of sensory overload, she felt like losing the only recognizable faces in the crowd might push her over the edge. Even if the only recognizable faces were pushy and bitchy.

 Eventually they stopped for a break near the fountain in the center of the mall. Herself, Gretchen, and Karen were seated at a small table while Regina went off to buy god knows what, “So! Cady, met any cute boys yet?”

 Gretchen, ever the gossip, was excitedly looking across the table at Cady. She remembered what Janis had told her on the first day of school, don’t tell Gretchen any secrets. With that in mind, Cady decided to keep her interest in her friend, an outcast and “art freak,” to herself.

 “Uh, not really, I guess.”

 “Oh, come on! You can trust me! I won’t tell Regina, I promise! We’re friends too!” She was clearly not going to give up without being given a name.

 “Oh! Actually, there’s this guy in my AP Calculus class,” It won’t be a complete lie and it’s not something she cares if people know, what does it matter if she thinks some rando guy is kinda cute, “His name’s Aaron Samuels.”

 That was definitely the wrong thing to say. Gretchen...cackled? Screamed, maybe? Cady doesn’t actually know what she did, but it couldn’t have been good.

 “Aaron Samuels is Regina’s ex! They dated last summer until he broke up with her!”

 “I thought she dumped him for Shane Oman?” Cady didn’t even think Karen was paying attention.

 Gretchen was quick to shoot down what her friend said, “It doesn't matter! Friend exes are strictly off limits, it’s like one of the cardinal rules of feminism!”

 “Right, well, I wasn’t really planning on doing anything about it anyways. He’s cute, but...not really my type,” Now _that_ was a lie, but she was trying to broaden her horizons anyways.

 “What is your type then?” Regina was back and Cady suddenly regretted opening her big mouth, “Uh...uh…”

 “Is it girls? I’ve seen you walking the halls with _Janis Sarkisian_ ,” The way Gretchen said her name, it sounded like she was dirty or something, “She’s such a creep though. I wouldn’t blame you if you’re just scared of what she’d do if you tried telling her off!”

 “She’s not a creep. And I only walk with her because she offered to help me, we’ve got like five classes together and I was totally lost yesterday.”

 “Ugh, you’re not like _actually_ friends with her are you?”

 “I-I mean...I...guess not? I just, don’t think she’s _that_ bad, yknow? She’s actually kind of nice!” Regina rolled her eyes, “Right well, she’s a fucking weirdo and a lesbo. You’d stay away from her if you knew what was good for you. But enough of that, just talking about her is making me want to regurgitate my lunch. Come on, let’s go back to my place.”

 “Oh, actually, um, I can’t,” Cady didn’t think she could handle being around the Plastics for much longer, not to mention these contacts she was wearing was already starting to irritate her.

 “Excuse me?”

 “We still haven’t finished unpacking and I promised my mom I’d help her finish today…”

 A groan, “Fine, we’ll drop you off at your house and then _the rest_ of us will go have fun at mine.”

 It took all of Cady’s willpower not to sprint out of the car and into her house. She just wanted to sit in her room alone with the lights low and soft music playing while she did her homework or even just stopped doing anything for a bit.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos/comments/bookmarks are greatly appreciated!!
> 
> will be (trying to) update on Sundays


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